(3 of 4)
But they probably will, perhaps through the publicity campaign under way for Roberts' new hardback offering of this year, Carolina Moon (Putnam; 438 pages; $24.95). This novel is a romance tooled to attract readers of popular fiction who may not think, or know, that they like romances. It is longer than Roberts' formula books and offers a larger cast of characters. The central love story is buttressed by a second one between supporting players. And Roberts includes elements from other pop genres, including a paranormal ability and a long-unsolved murder.
But all this extra furniture does not clutter up the simple romance plot. After an absence of 18 years, Tory (for Victoria) Bodeen returns to Progress, S.C., the small town that she and her parents left in questionable circumstances when she was eight. The event that led to their departure was the rape-murder of Tory's best friend, Hope Lavelle. Thanks to her psychic gift, Tory told Hope's parents, the wealthy owners of Beaux Reves estate, that their daughter was dead and where the body could be found.
Tory knows returning to Progress will mean facing Hope's twin sister Faith and her elder brother Kincade, who is now the handsome master of Beaux Reves. Tory believes she has come back to found a gift shop and to prove that the dirt-poor child that townsfolk once knew has grown into a polished and self-sufficient businesswoman. But experienced romance readers will know that Tory's true purpose in the book is to hook up with Cade Lavelle and become mistress of Beaux Reves.
Despite its preordained finale, Carolina Moon builds a commendably brisk narrative energy and pace. Roberts' prose does not invite lingering. In fact, reading fast is the best way to get past such locutions as "Her breath came in pants" or this anatomically puzzling account of Tory and Cade together in bed for the first time: "His mouth all but savaged hers, ripping down to her gut with one jagged and panicked thrill."
Still, the novel offers a parade of diverting characters, nearly all of whom talk about sex constantly, and a comforting sense that no truly upsetting events lie in wait. Faith Lavelle, the dead twin's grown sister, seems to mean Tory no good. But then her veterinarian boyfriend gives her a puppy, and the evil twin becomes a wonderful woman.
If such a transformation does not strike Roberts, 49, as preposterous, it may be because her life has followed, in broad outline, the plot of a romance novel. Back in 1979, she was a housewife with two small sons living in a small house in rural western Maryland, when a blizzard dropped 3 ft. of snow outside the door. "Here I was," she says, "pretty much stuck in the house for several days playing Candy Land and rearranging the furniture. To keep sane, I decided to do something else."
An eager reader since childhood and an energetic dreamer-up of stories, Roberts decided "to take one of those stories out of my head and write it down." A friend had recently introduced her to romance novels. "So I was gobbling those things up, and I thought, 'I'm going to write one of these. They're easy.'" They were not, it turned out, that easy, and she endured a beginner's run of rejection slips. But she was hooked. "As soon as I started writing, it was like, 'Why didn't I do this before? What have I been waiting for?'"